The History of the Zeebo, Brazil's First Videogame Console [video]

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8 points·bane··4 comments

I mean, Brazil's first locally developed video game console.

Because TecToy manufactured the Sega Master System, Genesis and Dreamcast (not sure about the Saturn) locally (and they were the first to manufacture a video game console locally). Also some other company called Gradiente manufactured the Nintendo 64 locally too.

Not even considering older generations..

Between 80s and 90s, Brazil was a very closed market and it was almost impossible for companies such as Atari to sell consoles there.

So some local companies started to develop their own non-authorized-clones, like Milmar producing the Dactar console, which was a blatan copy of the Atari 2600 with some "improvements" like the joy stick with extra buttons..

I do remember another clone, polystation, that was found here in Brazil as well. (I'm not sure if is Brazilian)

While the idea that the 1977-1992 reserved market policy for computers had an impact on the videogame market in Brazil is a popular one, that was not the case. The policy was not about imports as all imports (cars, chocolate, etc) were restricted at the time due to the external debt crises. The policy prohibited joint ventures with foreign companies or local manufacturing and sales by foreign companies (like what happened in cars and other industries).

Polyvox/Gradiente had an official joint venture with Atari while Philips made and sold its consoles locally. None of this would have been possible if the reserved market had included videogames. Note that it was common for the policy to extend its reach to areas where it shouldn't apply, but that didn't happen in this case.

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